Sunday, January 08, 2006

A real live composite timetable

Regular readers will know this has been one of my hobbyhorses for a while. Despite their usefulnes for passenger information, marketing and service planning, composite timetables seem to be little used here, even for overlapping services along major roads.

Warrigal Road between Oakleigh and Chadstone is one of Melbourne's most bussed road. The table below is a composite timetable for all buses from Oakleigh to Chadstone along this stretch. Times shown are for Saturday, the busiest shopping day at Chadstone.

5:28 AM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

5:55 AM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

6:25 AM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

6:55 AM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

7:25 AM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

7:53 AM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

8:08 AM 800 Chadstone

8:15 AM 742 Chadstone

8:23 AM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

8:27 AM 627* Chadstone - Carnegie - McKinnon - Brighton East

8:32 AM 804 Chadstone

8:50 AM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

8:50 AM 742 Chadstone

9:08 AM 800 Chadstone

9:17 AM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

9:20 AM 742 Chadstone

9:27 AM 627* Chadstone - Carnegie - McKinnon - Brighton East

9:32 AM 804 Chadstone

9:48 AM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

9:50 AM 742 Chadstone

10:08 AM 800 Chadstone

10:15 AM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

10:25 AM 742 Chadstone

10:27 AM 627* Chadstone - Carnegie - McKinnon - Brighton East

10:32 AM 804 Chadstone

10:50 AM 742 Chadstone

10:52 AM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

11:08 AM 800 Chadstone

11:15 AM 742 Chadstone

11:23 AM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

11:27 AM 627* Chadstone - Carnegie - McKinnon - Brighton East

11:32 AM 804 Chadstone

11:48 AM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

11:50 AM 742 Chadstone

12:03 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

12:08 PM 800 Chadstone

12:15 PM 742 Chadstone

12:18 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

12:27 PM 627* Chadstone - Carnegie - McKinnon - Brighton East

12:32 PM 804 Chadstone

12:33 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

12:47 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

12:50 PM 742 Chadstone

1:02 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

1:08 PM 800 Chadstone

1:22 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

1:27 PM 627* Chadstone - Carnegie - McKinnon - Brighton East

1:32 PM 804 Chadstone

1:41 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

1:50 PM 742 Chadstone

2:00 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

2:08 PM 800 Chadstone

2:20 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

2:27 PM 627* Chadstone - Carnegie - McKinnon - Brighton East

2:41 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

2:50 PM 742 Chadstone

3:01 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

3:08 PM 800 Chadstone

3:20 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

3:27 PM 627* Chadstone - Carnegie - McKinnon - Brighton East

3:32 PM 804 Chadstone

3:38 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

3:50 PM 742 Chadstone

3:58 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

4:18 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

4:27 PM 627* Chadstone - Carnegie - McKinnon - Brighton East

4:38 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

4:58 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

5:10 PM 742 Chadstone

5:08 PM 800 Chadstone

5:19 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

5:27 PM 627* Chadstone - Carnegie - McKinnon - Brighton East

5:38 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

5:58 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

6:15 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

6:15 PM 742 Chadstone

6:48 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

7:18 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

7:45 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

8:17 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

8:47 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

9:18 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

9:46 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

10:16 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

11:16 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

11:46 PM 700 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Burwood - Box Hill

(*) Service departs from Kangaroo Rd (near Warrigal Rd)

Travel time to Chadstone: 10 minutes approx

Train times at Oakleigh - day: :13, :33, :53 (to city), :12, :32, :52 (from city) Train times at Oakleigh - night: :01, :31 (to city), :02, :32 (from city)

The most impressive feature about this list is the sheer number of services provided. A lot of buses, drivers and dollars are being thrown at serving this corridor. During the day it's an average of a bus every 7-10 minutes.

Thus waiting times should be pretty short, and provided services depart from adjacent stops it should not even be necessary to consult a timetable.

However closer examination tells a different story. During the day there are 'holes' of 18 to 20 minutes due to irregular scheduling. This seems to be particularly the case around 9am (a popular starting time for many retail workers). At other times there may be two half-empty buses following one another, so fleet utilisation and service as seen by the passenger may not be optimum for the (not inconsiderable) resources expended.

Information from exercises such as this can be useful for service planning, co-ordination and trying to make the best use of available resources. For the Oakleigh to Chadstone corridor it's not a lack of services but passenger information and their timing that are the main obstacle to improved patronage, at least during the day.

UPDATE 12 Jan, 2006: 742 and 800 times corrected as per Craig's post and train departure times added.

2 comments:

Craig Halsall said...

An interesting list Peter. Could be interesting to compare train arrival and bus departure times.

During the day UP trains come at 13, 33 & 53 past and DOWN trains at 12, 32 & 52 past.

Some instances passengers have to wait a connection of over 15 mins, such as 9:52 > 10:08 or 11:32 > 11:48.

Also, I noted a couple of errors - you've shown a few 742 trips that terminate at Oakleigh, and the 800 times aren't current (bus is now 2" earlier).

Interesting exercise nevertheless.

Peter Parker said...

Thanks Craig. I've corrected the bus times and added some train times so it's possible to examine connections.

Oakleigh is fortunate to have up and down trains coinciding, which makes it a dream for connections if properly planned.

627 could be a reasonable connection, but the stop location relative to the station isn't ideal.

742 has a tight connection for bus to train and not much of a connection for the reverse.

800 connections to the train seem OK, but 804's rely on a late train to work.

700's are a dog's breakfast due to inconsistent headways.